John Harvatine IV

Information About Turner Upfront 2017

This Wednesday (17/05/2017), Turner Broadcasting System will be holding a 2017 upfront event at Madison Square Garden in New York City. The upfront is a special preview event for Turner’s upcoming programming for the next twelve months or so. As Cartoon Network USA already released their upfront info on 30th March (with the exception of Unikitty! which was announced last week), the upfront event mostly focuses on their news, general entertainment and sports brands (TBS, TNT, CNN, HLN, truTV, Adult Swim and Turner Sports), however the upfront is an opportunity to inform and to remind the press about Cartoon Network’s upcoming programming. The upfront will start at 10am and there will be an Adult Swim Upfront Party at 9pm at Terminal 5.

Reminder and Summary of Cartoon Network USA’s 2017-2018 Upfront

In 2017-2018, Cartoon Network USA will premiere five brand new shows, Apple and Onion, Craig of the Creek, Summer Camp Island, OK K.O.! Let’s Be Heroes and Unikitty!, this year so far, Cartoon Network USA has already premiered the new Ben 10 reboot and Cloudy with A Chance of Meatballs. OK K.O.! Let’s Be Heroes will premiere very shortly on Cartoon Network USA.

Apple and Onion follows the lives of the titular characters in the “big city of sophisticated food”, both Apple and Onion are new to the big city and are somewhat naïve but that doesn’t stop them from making friends and from enjoying their incredible adventure of life. Apple and Onion is created by George Gendi, a storyboard artist who worked on The Amazing World of Gumball during the show’s first season.

Craig of the Creek follows Craig and his two best friends, the show takes place at a creek where the rules of the outside world don’t apply, the place is a utopia for kids, filled with tree forts and dirt bike ramps. The adventure series is created by two former writers for Steven Universe – Matt Burnett and Ben Levin.

Summer Camp Island is about two friends, Oscar and Hedgehog at a magical summer camp where anything is possible, the show is created by British animation director – Julia Pott, known for her episode storywriting on Cartoon Network Studios’ Adventure Time.

OK K.O.! Let’s Be Heroes is about an endlessly optimistic boy named K.O., who levels up to be the best he can be in a computer-game beat-em’-up like universe of heroes, friends and challenging foes. The series is based on the pilot episode – OK K.O.! Lakewood Plaza Turbo and follows the animated shorts released online in 2016 and 2017. The show is created by Ian Jones-Quartey, former supervising director for Steven Universe.

Unikitty! follows the beloved character of the same name from The Lego Movie, and a whole cast of friends into the world full of adventure, excitement and dance parties. Unikitty is a cheerful character who wants to spread joyfulness and good vibes around her kingdom, but she explodes with anger when things don’t go her way. Unikitty! is animated by Warner Bros. Animation.

We Bare Bears, The Powerpuff Girls, Mighty Magiswords, Adventure Time, Teen Titans Go! and The Amazing World of Gumball have all been renewed for the 2017-2018 upfront season.

In the United States, Cartoon Network offers the most popular VOD (Video on-demand) content across all television and the channel has five out of the top 10 animated series for kids.

Adult Swim USA’s 2017-2018 Upfront

Ahead of the 2017 upfront, Turner has already released some Adult Swim upfront info. Coming soon to Adult Swim is a quarter-hour live-action comedy series aimed at millennials (Adult Swim’s current target audience and age group) called Mostly 4 Millennials, the comedy series will be a funny and exciting look into what makes the “More Greatest Generation” tick. Mostly 4 Millennials is created by Derrick Beckles (Totally for Teens, Hot Package) and executive produced along with Eric Andre (The Eric Andre Show). In terms of specials, Comedian and filmmaker Jena Friedman will also be having her very own 30-minute special on Adult Swim. The special will be about the current state of the United States of America, regarding issues related to politics, gender and culture. Jena Friedman has worked as a correspondent for National Geographic Explorer and Vice and as a field producer for The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and has written for Late Show with David Letterman.

In terms of animation, Adult Swim will premiere a brand new quarter-hour show called The Jellies! and is created by Tyler, The Creator and Lionel Boyce. The show is about a family of Jellyfish, but focuses mostly on their 16-year-old human son Cornell. When Cornell learns that he was adopted at birth, he spirals out of control and he tries to “find himself”. The musical score is composed by Tyler, Tyler is also a voice actor on the show, along with Lionel Boyce, Phil LaMarr, Blake Anderson, AJ Johnson, Kevin Michael Richardson and many more.

Another animated show that will premiere on Adult Swim is Apollo Gauntlet, which is about a cop who gets transported to a futuristic medieval society, and with the help of a magical suit and a set of talking gauntlets, he’s able to fight crime exactly the way he wants under the alter-ego of “Apollo Gauntlet”. The quarter-hour animated adventure comedy series is created by Myles Langlois and is produced by MONDO’s animation studio, Six Point Harness and Mosaic.

Hot Streets is also another animated show that will premiere on Adult Swim. In Hot Streets, FBI Agent Mark Branski, his partner, his niece, and her dog, investigate supernatural phenomena. The quarter-hour animated science fiction adventure series is created by Brian Wysol (Rick and Morty, Robot Chicken). Seth Green, Matt Senreich, John Harvatine IV, and Eric Towner (Robot Chicken), Justin Roiland (Rick and Morty) and Wysol are serving as executive producers. Produced by Stoopid Buddy Stoodios.

From Monday 22nd May, Adult Swim will premiere season two of Neon Joe, Werewolf Hunter with a new episode airing each night at 12am ET/PT for five days. The show is about a retired Werewolf Hunter who runs a cocktail bar but due to some unpleasant situation at the bar, Joe has no choice but to get back into the werewolf hunting game.